Tuesday, September 9, 2014

I am so happy to be apart of this tour. I am fortunate to have read both of these trilogies and I highly recommend them both. These are both amazing authors and both are on my must read list. So welcome Jackie to the blog on insights on writing a series. I love trilogies and series. It gives me more of a chance to get to know the characters and places.

Insights for Writers on Writing a Series

“World as Character” – Leland Dragon Series by Jackie Gamber

'No Man is an Island'

No
man is an island entire of itself; every man

is
a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if
a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe

is
the less, as well as if a promontory were, as

well
as any manner of thy friends or of thine

own
were; any man's death diminishes me,

because
I am involved in mankind.

And
therefore never send to know for whom

the
bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

MEDITATION XVII

Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

John Donne

In my Leland Dragon series, from Book One, “Redheart”, through Book Two, “Sela”, and

Book Three, “Reclamation”, the story takes place over two generations. A multitude of

recurring characters. New and adapted characters.

But there is a single thread that weaves itself in and around and through each book; not the theme (although our English teachers would be proud we each thought of it), not the pacing, not the voice.

It is the world of Leland, herself.

In shaping my characters of my novels, in the early stages, especially,

I like to consider what makes them who they are and why they think the way they do, and

often it comes by way of the world they grew up in. Culture dictates so many things; it takes a brave soul to face down “the way it’s always been”. We see a character’s mettle by the

way they take on this very thing.

But what about the effects of a character (person, or otherwise, as in the case of the

dragons in Leland) on culture? How does a world survive an onslaught of unprecedented

change? Can it?

Is the destruction of “the way it’s always been” the very forest fire that makes way for new

growth?

Depends on the story. Depends on the world.

But, as a writer, it’s something that should be addressed, especially in a series.

No man, or character, is an island. The choices we make affect those around us, and vice

versa. Death, and life, rattle the chains that bind us together. In a series of short stories, or

novels, or storytelling of any kind, we become as acquainted to the world it takes place in

as we do any character.

The world becomes a character, with her own story.

Before I begin writing, I think to myself, “Whose story is this?” In Book One of the Leland

Dragon series, it is Kallon Redheart (hence the title). Book Two becomes the story of the

next generation. By the time I reached Book Three, I really struggled to choose which

character was about to undergo the most change – then it hit me. Book Three is the story

of Leland Province, and a culture coming full circle.

When it comes to world building it’s important to remember the impact your characters are

going to have upon her. Even your created world isn’t an island.

Well. Unless, of course…it literally is.

You know what I mean.

Jackie Gamber is the
award-winning author of many short stories, screenplays, and novels, including
“Redheart”, “Sela”, and “Reclamation”, Books one through three of the Leland
Dragon Series. For more information about Jackie and her mosaic mind, visit http://www.jackiegamber.com

About Jackie Gamber: As an award winning author, Jackie writes stories ranging from ultra-short to novel-length, varieties of which have appeared in anthologies such as Tales of Fantasy and Dragons Composed, as well as numerous periodical publications, including Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, The Binnacle, Mindflights Magazine, Necrotic Tissue, and Shroud. She is the author of the fantasy novel Redheart and Sela, and writing an alternate history time travel novel. She blogs professionally for English Tea Store.com, where she reviews classic science fiction and fantasy novels and pairs them with the ideal tea-sipping companion.
Jackie is a member of the professional organizations Science Fiction Writers of America and Horror Writers Association. She was named honorable mention in L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Award, and received a 2008 Darrell Award for best short story by a Mid-South author. She is the winner of the 2009 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award for Imaginative Fiction for her story The Freak Museum, a post-apocalyptic tale that looks closely at perceptions and outward appearances and how they affect the way we see ourselves. Jackie Gamber was co-founder and Executive Editor of Meadowhawk Press, a speculative fiction publisher based in Memphis. One of their novels, Terminal Mind by David Walton, won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award in 2009. Jackie also edited the award winning benefit anthology, Touched By Wonder. She has been a guest lecturer at Memphis Options High Schools, and is a speaker at writers’ conferences from Michigan to Florida. Jackie is also the visionary behind the MidSouthCon Writers’ Conference, helping writers connect since 2008.

Jackie Gamber’s Redheart Book Synopsis: Enter the lands of Leland Province, where dragon and human societies have long dwelled side by side. Superstitions rise sharply, as a severe drought strips the land of its bounty, providing fertile ground for the darker ambitions of Fordon Blackclaw, Dragon Council Leader, who seeks to subdue humans or wipe them off the face of the land.
As the shadow of danger creeps across Leland Province, a young dragon named Kallon Redheart, who has turned his back on dragons and humans alike, comes into an unexpected friendship. Riza Diantus is a young woman whose dreams can no longer be contained by the narrow confines of her village, and when she finds herself in peril, Kallon is the only one with the power to save her. Yet to do so means he must confront his past, and embrace a future he stopped believing in.
A tale of friendship, courage, and ultimate destiny, Redheart invites readers to a wondrous journey through the Leland Dragon Series.

About H. David Blalock: Born in San Antonio, Texas, David spent the majority of his formative years in Jacksonville, Florida. At the age of 16, his family moved to the Panama Canal Zone where David finished school and entered employment with the Department of Defense as a Powerhouse Electrician.
Hiring into the FAA, he returned with his wife and two daughters to the States and settled briefly in Gulfport, MS. A few years later, he moved to Memphis, TN, as an Air Traffic Controller for the Memphis ARTCC. There he remained until his retirement.
David’s writing has appeared in numerous anthologies, magazines, webzines, and writer’s sites. His work continues to appear on a regular basis through multiple publishing houses.

H, David Blalock’s Angelkiller Book Synopsis: Why do bad things happen to good people? Simple. In the ancient war between the Angels of Light and Darkness, the Dark won. Now it is the job of an undercover force simply known as The Army to rectify that.
Using every tool available, The Army has worked to liberate our world from The Enemy for thousands of years, slowly and painfully lifting Mankind out of the dark. On the front of the great Conflict are the Angelkillers, veterans of the fight with centuries of experience.
Jonah Mason is an Angelkiller, and his cell is targeted as part of plot to unseat a very powerful Minion of The Enemy. Mason and his troop are drawn into a battle that stretches from real-time to virtual reality and back. The Conflict is about to expand into cyberspace, and if Mason is unable to stop it, The Enemy will have gained dominion over yet another realm